Life of JEM: My Life In The Inland Empire

A BLOG ABOUT THE ZANY CHILDHOOD AND ADULT ADVENTURES OF A GIRL FROM THE INLAND EMPIRE WHO MOVED OUT OF THE INLAND EMPIRE ONLY TO END UP BACK IN THE INLAND EMPIRE.

Sunday, November 23, 2014

Coming Home

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"But my heart cried out for you, California. Oh California, I'm coming home. Oh make me feel good rock n' roll band. Califor...

Friday, November 21, 2014

Where do we go now?

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Sometimes, I use this blog as my own personal therapy session. I work out things on the page so I can work them out in life. This can have...

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Relativity

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I don't usually write about my job as a public defender. For one, you would simply not believe some of the things I see. The courtroom...

Saturday, November 15, 2014

A Ham of a Thanksgiving Story

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I love the holidays. It is a season of scents. If Christmas smells like pine needles, cookies and hot chocolate, then Thanksgiving smells...

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Thanksgiving and Dad (subtitled: John's The Man Who Cuts The Ham)

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While p lanning my Thanksgiving menu, I think of my Dad. Every Thanksgiving, Dad would put it all together by himself. As kids we never ap...

Sunday, November 9, 2014

Lessons Learned

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In the last few months, I have learned some lessons. The learning process has not been easy. In fact, it's been a painful process of s...

Friday, October 31, 2014

The wanting and the waiting

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I have said before that I live life looking in the rear view mirror. I tend to only appreciate the high points in my life later looking bac...

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About Me

Juanita E. Mantz (JEM): JEM's life story is the stuff that memoirs are made of. JEM went from punk rock high school dropout to corporate lawyer to rock star deputy public defender and nonfiction writer. JEM's stories, blog and video podcast document her journey so take a look! Her YA memoir, "Tales of an Inland Empire Girl", is available via Los Nietos Press (and through all national retailers). Her book tells the poignant story of her chaotic YA life growing up in the IE. Her chapbook, "Portrait of a Deputy Public Defender, or how I became a punk rock lawyer", was also released in Aug 2021 by Bamboo Darts Press. JEM is married to her wonderful husband Adrian who is a dentist. They have two Shih Tzus, Frodo and Chewbaca (Chewie to his friends). Her work has been published in Aljazeera, The Acentos Review, The Dirty Spoon Radio Hour, Entropy, As/Us, Inlandia, & Mutha magazine, among others. Go to her author website for more info at https://juanitaemantz.com. JEM is in the creative writing MFA low residency program at UNO. She has presented at AWP, Beyond Baroque and the UCR Punk Conference.

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